Everton have finally got their man, but only after another day of high farce in their often slapstick pursuit of a new boss.

Sam Allardyce agreed an 18-month contract, worth around £6million a year, after flying in from Dubai to meet owner Farhad Moshiri and visit the Finch Farm training ground, where he is understood to have met the players.

At time of writing on Wednesday night, the Blues were still to make an official announcement confirming their painful near six-week search for a manager was over, even though Allardyce arrived at the training ground at 3pm and addressed the players during their pre-match meal.

Yet the news was confirmed by Moshiri himself far earlier in the day — not through the myriad official Goodison channels, but the Twitter account of Sky Sports and talkSPORT presenter Jim White.

To continue with the sense of circus that has surrounded the appointment, the club’s title sponsor SportPesa also confirmed the announcement, with a tweet that read: “Sam Allardyce is...the new Everton manager! Talk about finding love in a hopeless place...”

The African betting company swiftly deleted the message, but it summed up the feeling around the club, with many fans quick to express their doubts about the new boss — especially given his choice of Sammy Lee, the former Liverpool player and assistant coach, among his support team.

(Image: @SportPesa_UK/Twitter)

While the principal owner and sponsor were letting slip the news of the appointment even before a contract was signed — with Allardyce thought to have asked for a further year’s option on top of his 18-month deal — the club’s media were only able to reveal the former England boss was in the building.

Allardyce remained at the training complex for three hours before being driven the short distance to Goodison to watch the crucial showdown with West Ham.

Even before Wednesday’s comic events, which confirmed him as manager two weeks after he had ruled himself out of the running — he said he felt Moshiri wanted an alternative candidate — he at least has arrived at the club under no illusions about the mess he has inherited.

Moshiri leads Allardyce up the touchline before kickoff against West Ham (Image: Getty)

The new manager added to the sense of chaos around Goodison when betting firm Paddy Power – with whom he has a deal to act as an ambassador – released a transcript of his thoughts on EVerton’s dire position, which he offered them before he took the job.

In the column, Allardyce pulled no punches as he said the players’ confidence was shot and the club could forget about a top six place this season and instead concentrate on beating the drop.

Speaking about a squad that caretaker boss David Unsworth confessed, before his final game in charge, was “not good enough”, Allardyce said: “Everton are obviously in a bad place at the moment. And it’s mainly down to a loss of belief.

“The players’ loss of belief in themselves and their lack of confidence means that the first thing the new manager needs to do is re-instil that confidence and morale in them again.

“At the minute, I can’t see that with that set of Everton players. It’s completely gone.

Sunday's loss at Southampton made it just two league wins in 12 for the Blues... (Image: Reuters)

“There’s one simple reason why those players have no confidence left — results. Losing Romelu Lukaku, that team has found it more and more difficult to get the ball in the net. Points have been slipping past them without his 20-plus goals.

“There’s no doubt that they can play just as well as their opposition, but they can’t finish teams off. They can’t score. And, because of that, the knock-on effect is pressure on the defenders, someone makes a mistake and then they lose games. Games that they should be winning, they’ve lost or drawn.”

Allardyce insisted things can be turned around, he admitted it would be a ferociously tough job: “The confidence has been drained from the players because of their bad results, and you can see that.

Everton are paying for not replacing last season's leading scorer Lukaku with an elite striker (Image: Getty)

“I understand why they didn’t replace Lukaku – nowadays that’s such a hugely difficult piece of business. There’s such a lack of top-quality strikers, not just in England but literally across the world today. But still, the club needs someone to get goals and change those results around.

“Like anything in football, it has to be a team game. The entire team has to pull together to get themselves out of the bad position that they’re in, that can’t all be expected of Wayne Rooney.

“There’s talk of where Everton should be aiming — Champions League or top six or whatever, but in my opinion what they need to do now is just aim at the next game.

“Focus on getting up the table. Win the game that is in front of you, get three points and move up the table.”

The appointment of Allardyce marks a sea-change in the direction of the club, with owner Moshiri placing his faith in football fixer Keith Harris, along with director of football Steve Walsh – despite severe criticism of his summer transfer business - to help him make the appointment.

That meant bypassing the team previously in charge of day to day running, led by chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Robert Elstone, with the CEO’s position now thought to be under intense pressure.

Moshiri has also brought his right-hand man Alexander Ryazantsev into a day-to-day position of control, and he will occupy an office at the training ground, while Harris is also likely to come on board in some capacity.